When all you have is a hammer

: Where does this one come from, and what does it usually mean?
"When all you have is a hammer"

: mortimer

We (the yobs) submitted that one for consideration for the Phrase
Finder database last May. I guess it didn't enter. The full saying
goes "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail"
(exact wording varies among sources). Some Web sites call it Baruch's
Law. It describes one kind of narrowness of thought. People who
are excessively fond of a particular analytical scheme or problem-solving
method--people who have only one tool--will construe any bit of
reality as just the kind of thing to which their pet interpretation
or solution applies.